 So FairPhone are launching the 5th version of their phone and right there on the page (which I won’t link to): “All of your favorite Google Apps will be right there with you.” Nothing like a good bit of fair trade, environmentally-friendly surveillance capitalism, eh? (I spoke with them when they were just starting out. They fully know and understand what #Google’s business model is. They fully understand what #SurveillanceCapitalism is. This is not an oversight; it’s strategy.) 42 comments
 @aral@mastodon.ar.al Is it worth getting to just jailbreak the phone to run de-googled android? And please do not enter my mentions with “but you can install a different operating system on it.” Statistically speaking, no one does that. No one buys a car and changes the engine except for car geeks. (Not to mention the legitimacy an organisation with the stated goals of Waag/FairPhone gives to surveillance capitalism by endorsing Google… I mean, that’s something special that money can’t buy.) @aral the "install another OS" also has the issue of that OS needing to exist in the first place, and usually it doesn't for quite a while because turns out making Android ROMs isn't exactly that trivial i think for that to hold any merit as a solution, at the very least the phone manufacturer should provide a base OS image without gapps on it personally i think a reasonable middle ground would be the phone asking whether to install them in the initial setup process though @SigmaOne @aral It's on sale here with a google-free OS : feat @murena @jeanjean @SigmaOne @murena I had my reservations about their App Store but it looks like they’ve made improvements (see https://nervuri.net/e/app-lounge) so, yeah, that’s a good alternative to have. And there’s no reason (beyond wanting more sales) that FairPhone cannot do that themselves instead of continuing to legitimise Google and surveillance capitalism. But I guess it’s better to have your cake and eat it too. @SigmaOne @aral  @aral As a FP user, I feel like I'm also to blame for keeping the Google apps on there. I could install other stuff, but won't because it's too big of a hassle. @aral It probably sounds like I'm looking down on the open source alternatives, but you know, pouring lots of money into UX makes a huge difference whether I/we like it or not. Hell, Google Android UX sucks compared to Apple's versions. @mikamtb It shouldn’t be about the business. They’re not Samsung. (And it’s not your fault. You’re lucky you have the technical knowhow to do that if you wanted to and even you don’t have the time to do so without devoting your self to it to keep the custom OS secure and updated and, and, and…) :) @aral I wish it wasn't about the business, but they have to sell phones or they won't exist much longer.  @aral yes would be better without the Google Apps and then during the boot or so you can flash them if you want. But that would have to be really easy or they would have to replace with some replacements and run the services for their users. Sad that there is alternatives, but none are really easy like the stuff from the iUniverse (and not even close to G-Products).  @aral As far as I know there are no surveillance friendly operating systems that are also user friendly and come on self-repairable hardware. Fairphone can be bought with /e/ os installed so you don't need to be able to install a degoogled os yourself. They're probably the best option in the industry. @aral You can buy the FP4 with a different operating system: https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-4-eu/ I know that Fairphone cooperates with /e/, while other manufacturers make it hard to build alternative ROMs on purpose. But I agree with you, they should sell it with /e/ themselves. @sossalemaire @aral The FP5 is already available on murena : https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-5-fr/ @aral aside from that, the thing is too damned big. “Designed for You” unless you’re assigned female at birth or  @aral same with removing a phone jack: https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/9836188988049-Audio-Jack-3-5mm "In the current user feedback surveys we see more people being critical about the current Fairphone dimensions than about the fact that they have to use an adapter for using devices with headphone jack." But no numbers given :/ @aral the shit part is that if they don't do it, lots of people won't buy their product. In my country (idk how it is elsewhere), banking or government apps literally will not work unless you have them installed through the app store (which ok you can spoof if you know what you're doing but same argument as changing OS applies) and/or unless you have Google Play Services. It's a huge issue for google-free custom OS users too. It's a damned if they do, damned if they don't type situation @EchteNachtraaf They have a social mission. They’ve got Waag. They’ve got the guy who made his millions with his ISP who funds them. They could fight it. Invest in the software side of things. Sacrifice short-term sales to at least start paving a way forward that doesn’t involve Google. (But when I spoke to their aforementioned money guy back in the day he just didn’t care about the free/open source side of it. He was obsessed with it being a commerical success. So here we are.)  @aral I'm not sure what's outrageous about a company that makes #android phones making android phones? #fairphone has chosen a very specific battle to fight in this industry, and this is a battle they will lose if they're fighting on other fronts. They have a history of supporting other builds on their phones, and, as others here have mentioned, @murena sells fairphones without #google. @burdickjp @aral @murena There's a great saying that covers this situation: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." @patrizia @burdickjp @murena There’s also another saying: If FairPhone is an ethical company and they have no problem encouraging people to use Google, then Google must be an ethical company too (otherwise FairPhone would be unethical in suggesting the use of an unethical company). I do agree that it doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily, though. @aral @patrizia @murena @aral that's a shame, I'm thinking about buying one when my current phone breaks down some day. I really like their easy repair model and long support. tbh I already have google spyware on my current phone so there would be not much of a difference. @astromateusz See https://framapiaf.org/@jeanjean/110978096676337328 (Apparently /e/os has dealt with the security concerns regarding how they installed apps, so I’m more inclined to recommend it now.) @aral I suppose the OS and apps is not their hill. They are trying to tackle the manufacture and obsolescence part of it. It might be that right now they can make more of a difference by shipping the google OS. They are out to prove that you can build a user serviceable, fairly manufactured phone at scale. This gives people like the EU more strength to argue against the big two on hardware. There are other people trying to make a difference with the OS. @aral Murena (@murena) are selling a de-googled fairphone 5 that ships at the end of September, so I would imagine they were working with Fairphone to get it ready in time: https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-5/  Sorry Aral, .... But the general public expects an Android phone to act like an "Android phone". There is a version with e/os being sold somewhere else. Because Fairphone did work with e/os for the fp4 at some point iirc. So there are options. But the average consumer just wants regular Android |
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I've just started moving Google Analytics to Umami hosted on our own server, 25 % done in one day
https://github.com/GSCloud/umami
how to deploy your own Umami in 30 secs. (not counting TLS proxy)